The aims of China’s disinformation campaign are at least twofold. First, the Chinese disinformation is principally for home consumption. Second, by victory claim, China seeks to change the media narrative from “China bungled the outbreak” to “China the leader” that deserves accolades and emulation.

At this point, because China’s reports on the virus are taken at face value by most of the media, and because many Europeans insist on sneering at President Trump, China’s disinformation campaign is succeeding.

Russia’s expertise in conducting disinformation campaigns goes back to the czarist era. Post-Soviet Russia takes great pride in its disinformation skills. Among Russian government apparatchiks, disinformation is probably the most popular indoor sport.

According to a Reuters report on a nine-page document authored by the European Union’s European External Action Service, the EU found that Russia is engaging in a massive disinfor mation campaign.

The report quotes the document as stating, “The overarching aim of Kremlin disinformation is to aggravate the public health crisis in Western countries … in line with the Kremlin’s broader strategy of attempting to subvert European societies.”

The EU document recounted that, in almost 80 incidents, Russian disinformation attempted to magnify Iranian accusations that the virus was created in the United States.

Russia’s disinformation campaign has been far less successful than the Chinese campaign. It hasn’t measurably exacerbated the spreading panic. That only means that Russia will try new and different disinformation strategies to achieve its goal.